Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

So I toyed with going with a thank you card today, as it is Thanksgiving in the USA - happy Thanksgiving to my fellow team members and any other US followers today! In the end I decided to go with something a little different from me; I watched this video here by Jennifer McGuire recently and have been keen to try the embossed impressions technique; these colours were perfect for what I had in mind. Here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Rich Red Watercolour - I created a watercolour background for my central panel using Delightful Dijon and Cherry Cobbler inks and my aquapainter. I also spritzed my card with a mix of alcohol and clear Wink of Stella to give an all-over subtle shimmer and allowed it to dry thoroughly before moving on the next step.

Embossed Impression - To create my ornament feature, I used the round bauble from my Delicate Ornament Thinlits, inked it with Versamark then placed the thinlit onto the watercolour paper and rolled it carefully through my Big Shot. The Big Shot sandwich here is key: multi purpose platform open to Tab 2, acrylic plate, silicon mat, watercolour paper, thinlit die then lastly the final acrylic plate. This allows the die to create an inked impression on the watercolour paper, without it cutting. I then heat embossed this with gold embossing powder to give a fine line of gold detailing. I then used my gold Wink of Stella pen to highlight each of the detailed sections on the bauble for added sparkle - the close up below does show some of the detail, but I can assure you in real life it's gorgeous (even if I say so myself!):

Touches of Gold - I finished my card with a gold foil mat and a gold foil bauble hook, hung by a piece of gold thread with bow detail along with a gold foil 'merry' sentiment cut with my Christmas Greetings Thinlits and mounted on a few additional layers to add some depth. As for the kraft - I used it for my cardbase; the neutral tone really allowed my watercoloured shimmery panel to take centre stage.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

I did manage to get myself very inky making this card, however I'm quite pleased with the results and am looking forward to trying this technique with other thinlits dies.

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too! This will be my last week as a designer on the Connie and Mary Thursday team; family demands have led me to have to scale back my commitments and as such I am stepping down. I have enjoyed my time with the team; this has always been one of my favourite challenges and will still play along when I can.

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies	Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy
Heat Tool (Uk)	Watercolor Paper	Gold Foil Sheets	Kraft 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Gold Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Aqua Painters

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I decided this sketch was perfect to hang my stocking - literally! Take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Hang Your Stocking - My diecut stocking is cut using the Christmas Stocking Thinlits Dies. This set has lots of fun pieces to create stockings in three different sizes and add decorative trims - so many creative possibilities! It also comes with this great Noel diecut - perfect for edging a mantlepiece or adding a border trim to patterned paper, as I've done on my card today.

A Trio of Stamp Sets For Less - The diecut stocking is the clear winner on today's card, but this creation is by no means stamp-free; in fact, I used three stamps from three different stamp sets on my holiday card, all of them available this month at 25% off - what a bargain! You can read about the offer in full here along with the details of our new stitched framelit dies (these have been incredibly popular and will only now be orderable until 21st November before orders are put on hold whilst stocks are replenished - so you need to order them in the next few days to be assured of a timely delivery); in the meantime, did you spot them all? They are the stocking heel, toe and cuff detail and mini snowflakes from Hang Your Stocking, the large snowflake from Tin of Tags and the snowflake splatter from Christmas Pines. My stamping is subtle, yet each stamp contributes to the finished card.

Sparkle and Shine - I used Heat and Shine and Dazzling Diamonds along with the snowflake splatter stamp in the Christmas Pines set to add sparkle to the white section of my card. Difficult to photograph, but in real life so pretty! My Noel is also cut from a piece of red foil cardstock that I found in my scrapbox for a little extra shine and I added a sprinkle of rhinestones to finish. I love this festive colour combination, inspired by the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Paper set - feel free to save it if it's one you like too:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hang Your Stocking Photopolymer Stamp Set	Christmas Stockings Thinlits Dies	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tin Of Tags Photopolymer Stamp Set	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper
Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Versamark Pad	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Banner Triple Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

I was immediately drawn to the Petals and Paisleys Specialty Designer Series Paper as all of these colours can be found in this pack. I ended up only using a small piece of it though - here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Copper Specialty Banner - I chose to use a piece of my favourite paper, the beautifully navy with copper-embossed pattern for the banner accent on my card. So pretty!

All About Copper - There are so many copper elements to my card: the foil die cuts and mat, the designer series paper and the copper-embossed sentiment - they all go together beautifully and I love them!

A Paper-Pieced Trio -  I die cut my shapes - not sure whether they are supposed to be leaves, feathers or fans...answers on a postcard! - and having die cut two in Mint Macaron and another in Night of Navy, I carefully paper-pieced the outer elements and in-filled the pattern. This is fiddly with such small pieces, but worth the effort I think. I then finished each shape with an enamel dot.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

I love the simple design of today's card, with the small details adding real interest.

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Petals & Paisleys Specialty Designer Series Paper	Paisley Framelits Dies	Paisleys & Posies Photopolymer Stamp Set	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Copper Foil Sheets	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Regals Enamel Dots

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I saw this sketch and immediately saw ... snowmen! Take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Snow Place Like The Front of a Christmas Card - Apologies for the pun, but these snowmen - and women - definitely deserve to be showcased on the front of a Christmas card. 'Snow Place' is such a fun stamp set with infinite dress up possibilities for the snowmen and penguin in the set. What's more, the co-ordinating Snow Friends Framelits Dies make cutting out the shapes easy-peasy.

Go Large - Bigger is not always better, granted, however to accommodate my snow family of five I needed more cardfront, so I decided to make my card A5 size (21cm x 14.9cm) instead of a more standard A6. This allowed me enough room for my mats and layers, without my family needing to jostle too much for a space on my card.

A Pattern Surprise - Do you recognise my patterned paper? Are you wondering where I found my seasonal snowfall? This paper isn't from one of the festive seasonal packs at all; it's actually one of the patterns in the Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper. As with many of our DSP packs, the reverse of the feature papers often has a more repetitive pattern with spots, stripes or solid colours. This gorgeous mix of navy and white papers hides this spotted pattern which makes perfect snow. The moral of the story? Always check both sides of your papers and don't assume that because a pack isn't designed with Christmas in mind, there won't be a hidden gem that is perfect for your card.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snow Friends Framelits Dies	Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

It would be fair to say I struggled big time with these colours this week! I couldn't get away from the idea of Halloween, yet making them work was definitely a challenge! I ended up making two cards and I must confess I'm not completely happy with either of them! That said, I'm sharing my notelets with you anyway - here's the first one:

And here's the second one:

Both use a combination of the challenge colours and the Spooky Fun stamp set and co-ordinating Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies. The second one also includes a sentiment from the 'Suite Seasons' stamp set and a background created with the spots stamp in the 'Perpetual Calendar' set, along with a sentiment banner on each. Each would be quick and easy to create, although first time around they took me longer than I would have liked!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day - we are off to Brick Live to play Lego all day, a James family passion! Hope you enjoy your day too and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Spooky Fun Photopolymer Bundle	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes	Perfect Plum A4 Cardstock	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Silver Metallic Thread	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set	Suite Seasons Clear-Mount Stamp Set

I had a great workshop yesterday with a fabulous group of ladies making family tree home decor frames and watched the semi-finals of The Great British Bake Off on TV yesterday evening in lieu of a blog post. Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

Now you all know how much I love a good sketch, but I must admit this one had me stumped for a little while until I figured out what to do with it. I was totally in the Christmas zone, but once I stepped away from the festive season it came to me - an umbrella! Take a look:

A seriously bright card to brighten someone's day! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Dimension and Layers - I used the fun Umbrella Weather Framelits from the annual catalogue to create the umbrella, clouds and shower of hearts on my card today. There's lots of layering and dimension on today's card, with the blue panel popped up to allow the hearts to stand in relief against the pink card base and the clouds around the umbrella.

Weather Together - The sentiment is from the co-ordinating stamp set 'Weather Together' and perfect for a cheery pick-me-up kind of card. I stamped my sentiment in Melon mambo to accentuate the colour of my card base, and added an enamel heart shape in the same colour to one of my clouds too.

Buy 3, Get 1 Free Paper Offer - Time To Party! - My colour scheme today was inspired by the colours in the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper pack and I used the stripy pattern from this set for my umbrella canopy. This is one of the papers available as part of the October 'Buy 3, Get 1 Free' Designer Series Paper offer:

You can read all about it in this blog post here - a great offer and the perfect time to stock up so don't delay and get your party on!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Another busy day today with a meeting first thing then an afternoon of housework in store. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper	Weather Together Photopolymer Bundle	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

I've been poorly this week hence my lack of blog posts but today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Maryand this week we have a colour combination for you so I'm back with a short post for you:

I decided to go with an unusually coloured Christmas card today and equally uncharacteristically I had a design in mind as soon as I say this week's colour combination - that almost never happens! Here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Santa's Sparkly Reindeer - The only stamping on today's card is the greeting (from the Star of Light stamp set) - this card is all about the dies, Santa's Sleigh Thinlits Dies to be exact. A silver glimmer reindeer, wearing a festive wreath and bow.

Die Impression Background - Inspired by the gorgeous cards that Jennifer McGuire made using die impression backgrounds recently (you can see her cards and a useful video tutorial here), I got out my Layered Circle Thinlits and created my own circle impressions to add texture and interest to my background. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a good photograph that showed this detail - this close up does show some of the circles, but I'm afraid that my photography skills on white are not as good as Jennifer's!

A Sprinkling of Fancy Frost - I finished my card with a sprinkling of Fancy Frost sequins - they feature two out of this week's colours, so it had to be done and they carried through the circle theme of the die impressions. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Santa's Sleigh Dies Thinlits	Fancy Frost Sequins	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Silver Glimmer Paper	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock	Metallic Enamel Shapes
Star Of Light Photopolymer Stamp Set

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I decided to use this sketch for one of the cards that I made in my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack class earlier this week - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Something Old - I decided to feature a die cut 'merry' sentiment using my Christmas Greetings Thinlits and finish with some stamped words from the co-ordinating 'Holly Jolly Greetings' set. Last season I used these thinlits more times than I can count and in all the excitement of the Autumn-Winter catalogue I forgot that they had moved into the annual catalogue until I was browsing its Christmas section. For me they are a keeper and it felt like renewing acquaintance with an old friend to get them out and use them on my card today.

Something New - I paired my sentiment with a fun Santa from the Cookie Cutter Christmas set, punched out with the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch and some of the new Candy Cane Lane DSP; I recommend you stock up on this during the current 'buy 3, get 1 free' offer on Designer Series Paper this month - I know I will be! My cute Father Christmas was coloured in with my Stampin' Write markers for a bold finish, with a  liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella to accent his fur trim. 

A Perennial Favourite - Last but not least, I embossed my top Whisper White layer in my favourite embossing folder of all time: the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I'm not big into dry embossing, however I would make an exception for Softly Falling any day of the week, I just love the texture and interest that this falling snow gives a card. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Bundle	Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper	Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies	Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Many Marvelous Markers	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

This struck me as a rather masculine colour combination, although this may be just because I have male cards on the brain lately with lots of masculine birthdays on the horizon. I decided to break out a stamp set that I've had for a while but not yet used - here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Marquee Messages - I used the stamp set 'Marquee Messages' on my card today, with a full-on birthday greeting. This is such a fun stamp set with a variety of greetings that mean it can be used for birthdays, invitations or to congratulate. I coloured the central element of my sentiment with Dapper Denim ink and my blender pen for a slightly ombre look. 

Little Foxy Stripes - The neat grey and white stripes on my background are from the Little Foxy DSP stack - yet not a fox in sight! It's always worth checking out the patterns as sometimes you can find neutral patterns such as this that make great backgrounds.

Paper-Pieced Neon -  For the arrow and box sign elements of my card I got out my paper snips and did a little fussy cutting to allow me to paper-piece them on my card. I wanted bold blocks of colour just like a neon sign; of could I had to add some pearl light bulbs and a couple of gold glimmer stars too for a real touch of glamour too!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Marquee Messages Photopolymer Stamp Set	Gold Glimmer Paper	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango A4 Cardstock
A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Pearl Basic Jewels

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I spent some time deciding what to use on my card and eventually decided another Christmas card was the order of the day - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Pretty Pinecones - The Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies were the starting point for my card today. I have been wanting to use these gorgeous detailed dies to create a festive pine embellishment and today's layout was perfect for this. I used two different pinecones - the uppermost one has the pieces that can be pushed out, but I kept mine in place as I liked the effect (they can be held in place with a little tape behind).

Presents and Pinecones - I love the fresh reds and greens of the Presents and Pinecones designer series paper and knew they would be the perfect background to my embellishment. I actually cut one length from my DSP and used one side - the stripes - for the first panel, then the reverse - the pinecones - for the uppermost panel. The best of both worlds!

And Christmas Pines Makes Three - I used a sentiment from the bundled stamp set 'Christmas Pines' in Cherry Cobbler to complete my card. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Bundle	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Presents & Pinecones A4 Cardstock Pack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Banner Triple Punch	Rhinestone Basic Jewels